a700hitter

I wouldn't go that far. A lot of players listen and play fundamentally sound baseball, but not all of them do. You are a Dad. I don't know if you are planning on additional kids, but if you do, you may have the experience that some will heed your advice and others will not. Sometime they learn the hard way by making avoidable mistakes. Bobby V is, by all accounts, a very good manager when it comes to teaching fundamentals. At the beginning of the season when Al Leiter was asked about Bobby V, he said that Bobby could get on your nerves, but if the players listened to him they would bw better players.

Teaching fundamentals is one thing. The player has to put it into practice. Bobby V tells the story that he had dinner with the Twins second baseman from Japan. He knew him from his managing days in Japan. He warned him about the way he took the throw at second base, telling him that if he took the throw that way in the US he would get his leg broken. According to Bobby V, the guy gave him that "yeah right" look, and in the first week of the season a base runner took him out and broke his leg. He'll never again take a throw like that, but he had to learn the hard way. I doubt that we will ever see that kind of slide from Ellsbury.

I'm sure that he would rather have had the business be profitable.

Fred, you have done a lot of coaching. While you were on your self-imposed exile, I made the assertion that Ellsbury was responsible for getting injured because his slide was fundamentally flawed. We were taught that when you go into the bag to take out a fielder that you go in feet first on your backside. In those drills they taught us to throw our hands up so they didn't get caught under our body or the fielders body. With our hands up like that we could fend off a knee or other body part coming toward our face. Ells went in on his side and stomach with his arm extended behind him and his palm flat to the ground. He created the perfect situation for his shoulder to pop out or to sprain or break a wrist. They used to teach us to grab two handfuls of dirt and hold them in our fists to avoid having our hand on the ground with an open palm. Am I wrong about this? It is my contention that had his slide had been fundamentally sound, he never would have sustained this injury.

We're still waiting for things to change direction. His velocity has been deteriorating.

If the plan was to convert an elite late inning bull pen guy into a capable, but average 5th starter, they have succeeded. I don't think that is a good plan.

He would really help stabilize their starting pitching. He would bring some legitimacy to them as a contender.

Neither have I. In fact, I said in a prior post that his skill level falls just short of major league standards. He doesn't miss by much, but he misses.

He couldn't put away Davis with 2 strikes and a runner on 3rd. That spoke volumes to me. Davis would miss a ball on a tee 40% of the time. He's a 200 k/ season guy. Bard couldn't reach back for something and blow him away to keep the run from scoring.

So, this is what they were looking for-- no progress or improvement over 10 starts, diminishing command and diminishing velocity with each start? Do you really think this was the blueprint?

He is proving himself to be capable of being a serviceable #5 pitcher, but absent are the flashes of brilliance, the stuff, or the progress toward being anything more.

There's no Catch 22. If you are good enough, you stick in the majors.

Nava is certainly making the most of this opportunity, which he has to know will be his last. He definitely has good batting skills. The question is whether he will hit so well as to overcome his complete lack of major league tools and talent. He has little power, little speed, and he is an adequate fielder at best. He's fighting like hell to stick with the team, and he is bringing life and enthusiasm to the team. I am rooting for him in a big way, but he remains a long shot IMO.

Selected Dates: May 15 Palodios-- Eliminated May 18th Divinity-- Eliminated May 23 MannyHOF24-- Eliminated May 25 ORS May 28 WhiskeyBreath June 1 VA Sox Fan June 6 Laser Show June 25 redsoxrules July 6. Yeszir July15. Iortiz Aug 7 J_E Aug 8 a700Hitter And then there were 9.

Some on this forum have speculated that the Red Sox owners are positioning themselves to sell the team. Well, this morning there is a huge rumor in NY that Hank Steinbrenner is considering selling the Yankees. The sports writer with the scoop, Madden is very plugged into the Yanks and the Steinbrenners. He wrote Steinbrenners biography. While it wasn't authorized by the Steinbrenners, George's daughter encouraged him to write the book and they did cooperate. He says that Hank believes that the value of the franchise is as high as it is going to get and that it is time to cash out. I believe the problem may be finding a buyer. This is a bombshell of a story.

It's obvious why I didn't mention Adam Jones. He is one of the two good hitters in the O's lineup yesterday- the other being Markakis. Jones is good and getting better. Bard should have approached yesterday's game with the attitude that he wasn't going to let Jones or Markakis beat him and that he owned everyone else. Instead he is walking 4 guys, hitting another and he fed Nick Johnson a cookie. He did keep his team in the game against a weak lineup and he went 5 innings. That's the positive side of the ledger. On the negative side, yesterday he again showed that he is simply not developing as a starter. There has been no progress or improvement. If the long range plan with this conversion was to take a top end of game reliever-- a real weapon and turn him into a serviceable #5 starter, they have succeeded. He is a serviceable #5, and he is showing no signs that he is has the capability of being any more than that. If that was the plan, it was a very poor plan. We could have gotten a serviceable #5 elsewhere cheaply and easily. I thought the idea was to convert a special bullpen arm into a special starter. That appears to be a failure. I expected bumps in the road in this conversion-- painful games where he would get lit up, but I also expected some flashes of exceptional potential. I have not seen any instances of that. I expected that he would have exceptional stuff-- a 95 MPH heater and a devastating slider. He has had very ordinary stuff. I expected that there would be slow but discern able improvement and progression. There has not been any of that either. They will continue this experiment mainly because it takes Cherries a long time to make decisions, but he is just wasting time on this experiment. I fear it will end with Bard on the DL.