a700hitter

Look at how the top 5 in our order have been hitting. They have got great #'s. Now Salty is being as adequate as he was in his hot streak last season, but yet we are only 8-10. I love David Ortiz, but he is not going to hit .440 for the season. With the way we have hit, we should be at the top of the division. I think the good hitting highlights how bad our pitching (i.e. bullpen) has been.

He's only 33. His price has probably dropped like a stone.

Yes, that worked out fine. In 2006, he gave up a steady consistent number 5 pitcher who never misses a turn and puts up decent numbers pitching in a bandbox. He's still in the Reds rotation. In returnwe eventually got a couple of guys who might make the majors in 2014. That's really deferred compensation.

When Youk starts hitting, they should move him for the best starting pitcher they can get and bring up Middlebrooks. Package Youk and Doubront.

Does the 3 months include April?

Where are you seeing this report?

3 or 4 games at the most. This could be a scary thing.

Lars in LF? Oh my!

I guess that I have just gotten used to listening to him over the decades. I think Sox fans have been spoiled by Remy as an analyst. He doesn't over do it. He analyzes all the things that the TV viewer would want to know. He knows when to keep quiet and he is very funny. I really think that he is the best analyst/color commentator in the business. I have the MLB Extra Innings package and I listen to all of the announcers at some point during the season.

Two things about the Ortiz acquisition: First, this thread was intended to address Theo's record signing big money free agents. Ortiz was just released by the Twins and was obtained for little cost. Second, Pedro was responsible for the Ortiz signing. Ortiz saw Pedro shortly after he got the news that the Twins released him. Pedro called Theo on the spot and strongly recommended that he sign Ortiz. Theo got the jump on the other GMs thanks to Pedro, and he probably signed him as a favor to his star pitcher. Thank you Pedro for Ortiz.

I like Hawk too. He's an obnoxious homer, he is not as bad as many other team announcers.

Every team is going to nerve-wracking for us this year with this bull pen.

That was a dark movie. Daniel Day Lewis played a very dark disturbing character. At the end, he beats to death the phony preacher with a bowling ball.

. . . And Theo beat it out of town before his mismanaged budget blew up in his face.

The way the game thread read last night I thought he was throwing at a lower velocity. He'll do fine at this avg velocity if he can get his changeup to be effective again.

Ah yes, for many years after '86, I would describe closer who looked scared as having that Calvin Schiraldi look. Or he was sweating on the mound like Calvin Schiraldi in game 6. Unfortunately, no one associates his name with anything good.

Management of this type of information is not a strength of the organization.

Crawforsd did look great against the Red Sox. Maybe we made him look better than he really is.

Has this rumor been substantiated by any news outlet?

I did not pitch at a high level, but between baseball and softball, I did pitch for many years. It's hard to explain precise reasons, but from my experience, the final 3 outs are the most difficult to get. They are somehow different. The pressure is far more intense in that final inning of a close game. Focus levels are increased. Batters don't want to make the final out. Some umpires shrink their zone right at the end which is tremendously frustrating. I think that even as robotic and refined as MLB players are that pressure and added focus make that last inning different. MLB players have such a highly refined degree of muscle memory that thinking doesn't really enter into the equation very much. Yogi Berra was famous for saying that you can't hit and think at the same time. In that final inning, thinking becomes a bigger part of the game, and that is where the problems probably start. I don't like that Aceves has said that he is not comfortable in the role. To me, that is an acknowledgment that he is approaching it differently than he has approached his other roles in which he has been very successful. He has felt it necessary to dial up his velocity, but it has changed the movement and command of his pitches. He's not used to pitching at that velocity. He may start to learn how to pitch at that speed, or he may find it difficult to adjust. If he dials it back down, that may not work either. Hopefully, he can get it figured out quickly, because I don't see much possibility of another closer coming to the Sox.