a700hitter

It was a privilege to watch him play, but I'll be glad when he is done. Once he is done, it will become quickly evident that he was the main reason for the Yankees consistent playoff appearances.

2004 had far superior pitching.

The Red Sox had 2 different packages on the table for Johan-- one included Lester and the other included Ellsbury. When the Yankees dropped out of the bidding both packages were taken off the table and no other offers were made. When you look at the crap that the Twins got for Johan, we could have topped that easily without sacrificing the future.

I'm sure that I raised holy hell here when that didn't go down, and I no doubt got criticized for wanting to mortgage the future etc. I was probably also accused of hating on Theo.

I think the FO may have bet on the wrong horse when they traded Masterson instead of Buchjholz.

I think you just hit the nail on the head, but what your post does is it explains why the Red Sox pitchers are not as good as the Rays' pitchers. It's kind of like something I have heard at times about certain pitchers. People will say that he has 1 bad inning per game (about 4 runs), but he is otherwise good. I answer that statement with a question. What do you call a pitcher that has one bad inning per game? Answer: A bad pitcher.

We need to bludgeon teams, and it is very hard to do that consistently.

Please stop teasing me with this. It's like telling a 5 year old in July that Christmas is right around the corner.

Yes, but they can send him down and recall him all season long on the same option.

It is very sad that the guy committed suicide, but what is the sense of feeling sorry for him. It's over for him. I feel terrible for the living victims of his act.

They sent down Iglesias.

Buchholz has to be given time to work things out. Tazawa got caught up in a numbers game. Unless they were willing to cut Albers, Tazawa was the only choice. I would have cut Albers.

I agree that this is not the pen that will end the season, but I don't think we have the luxury of 1 1/2 months to wait for reinforcements, and I don't think the first reinforcement (Dice K) will be a huge help. I haven't read anything that indicates that Bailey will be back in July. I think that he is more likely to be rehabbing at that point. Melancon has always been a very good AAA pitcher, but I have no reason to be optimistic that he can help the MLB team. Similarly, I have no reason to be optimistic about Alex Wison. The last time I saw him they had to get him out of camp ASAP before his psyche got damaged. We need real reliable arms now. Two guys is all they need. They can't wait until June15th for this situation to improve or they will be looking up at too many teams.

They will not throw to a 5.45 ERA, but I do think that the bull pen as currently constituted is a bottom half pen if they don't bring in help.

The A's stink. Mortensen may get another trip on the Pawtucket - Boston shuttle, but that's about it. He's not a very good.

BTR, I love your enthusiasm. Other teams do have their problems. I agree with that too. Here's the one part of your post that I can't find a way to accept: The pen stinks. There are no reliable arms out there and as a whole there is a very low talent level in the pen. They have had some better results lately, because they have played some lousy teams. Mortensen is not a good pitcher. The A's are a lousy offense. We had 14 k's the night before. Mortensen's 6 k's are not evidence that he is good. It is evidence that Bard was really horrible last night getting 1 k against these bums. What reinforcements are on the way? I am not seeing any. Are you talking about waiting for Bailey in August or Dice k in June. I don't think Dice k will help our pitching very much. He wasn't very good for more than 2 years before his injury. In the case of Bailey, I don't think we have the luxury to wait until August. I see our bull pen as the big flaw of this team, and I have felt that way since Spring Training. The bullpen is fixable, but they are doing nothing.