a700hitter

Jackson is a whole lot better than the garbage heap of Silva, Cook, Maine and Padilla. I have no doubt about that.

Injuries and health issues can't be predicted. There is absolutely no good reason to believe that there will not be an injury to one of the top 3. We don't know what caused Buch' s back fracture and whether it can be a chronic problem. We don't know if Beckett stays healthy etc. Looking at the makeup of the staff, assuming health or injury, I agree that Bard could be an improvement over what was in the 4th slot last year, but we just don't know. He could just as easily blow up. He's an unknown at this point, but I'll concede that he should be an improvement. That still leaves you with TBD in the 5th spot if we don't make an acquisition. Additionally, you are not saying how the much the decrease in the quality of our bullpen (resulting from moving Bard) will offset the improvement Bard brings to the rotation. I don't think Melancon will be close to the weapon in the 8th inning that Bard had become. It really comes down to the delta between the improvement to the rotation brought by Bard and the decline experienced by the bullpen by losing Bard. I just don't see that as being significant. Even the top 3 stay healthy all season long, a black hole in the 5th spot from day one would be even worse than what we had there last year.

Benny Boy needs to go to Oswalt's home and walk in there with a $10 million contract and tell him he has until the end of the meeting to sign. If he doesn't sign, the Sox need to tell him that the offer is off the table and they will go in a different direction and they will announce to the press that they have no interest in Oswalt. That will cause his market and leverage to shrink dramatically. An approach like this is the only chance the Sox have to land him IMO. Ben, get the hell off your couch, buy a plane ticket and go see Oswalt. One of us will drive you to and from the airport. You are not going to make this deal talking on the phone. Get going and get it done.

This is disturbing. Why can't he just pack it in? http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20120129/COLUMNISTS0317/301290050/John-Torres-Wakefield-plays-waiting-game?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Home|p

I am planning to be in Boston in April for the Yankees (4/21), in May for either the Orioles or Cleveland (haven't decided yet), in June for the Nats, July for the Yanks and August for the Royals. Long Island isn't solid Yanks or Mets, but probably more Yankees at this point. It used to be more for the Mets.

You get charged for an hour but only get 50 minutes.

While the 2011 team was not an utter failure, the consensus is that the biggest problem with the team was the pitching. If we are going to go into 2012 with pitching that we all think is about the same, that is not a good thing. I think we could find ourselves in a similar situation with our current roster at the end of the season, and the downturn or collapse could start earlier.

Now that I know the clinical term for it, am I correctly observing this behavior?

About a week ago, maybe a little more, the members of TalkSox almost unanimously agreed that the Sox needed to get another starting pitcher. There was no dissent on that. Without another starting pitcher we were pretty much in agreement that the 2012 pitching will most likely be about the same as the 2011 pitching not significantly better or worse. Obviously, if everything works out perfect, the 2012 pitching could significantly improve. Similarly, with a few bad breaks, the 2012 pitching could crash and burn. However, the expectation is that they will be about the same as 2011, which proved not to be good enough. Now, that the news has turned very discouraging about us getting another stater, I don't understand how some posters are saying that we will be alright with what we have.:dunno:

Jeesh, we are starting to develop similar posting styles with this "fair enough" stuff.

Fair enough. They are three very solid pitchers. No argument there. They are all All Star caliber. No argument there either.

I deleted the post after I realized that you guys were discussing the playoffs. I didn't want to muck up the discussion.

The Wild Card teams will be at a tremendous disadvantage going forward. They will be forced to use their aces to win the 1 game playoff and then the ace doesn't get to pitch until game 3 of the Division Series, so they will be at a tremendous disadvantage. Yes, it does help that the Sox have a very good top 3, probably better than most teams, but you would want the hottest of those 3 to get 2 starts in the 5 game series. That's not going to be a possibility for the Wild Card teams. I am a baseball purist, and in my opinion, the result of the 162 game schedule should mean more than 1 additional home game in the playoffs. The argument that it is more important to set up your pitching for the playoffs than to win the division will no longer hold any water.

We don't have 3 aces. Beckett can pitch like an ace, but doesn't do so from year to year. Buchholz has had one solid full season and broke his back. Lester has been the most consistent pitcher and the closest thing to a true ace. I like to think we have three very good solid guys at the top of the rotation, and that is great to have, but let's not overstate what they are. Despite having a solid top 3, we still need two other competent guys at the bottom who can consistently put up innings with some degree of success. If you don't, the top three will not be enough to hold thing s together. We can't roll out garbage like Silva and Cook and Maine in the 4 th and 5th slots without burning out the bullpen and eventually collapsing the entire pitching staff.

That bullpen would be very very strong, however, there a couple of issues. First and foremost, Bard has lobbied to be a starter and the Sox seem committed to giving him a chance. I would prefer to leave Bard in the pen as the closer, but the truth is we have 2 gaping holes in the rotation. If they sign a pitcher or trade for Floyd, I still don't know if we can find another decent starter from among the bucket of chum signed this off season. I think Bard or Aceves will have to take the remaining spot. It's easier to stretch them out now than later if the so called depth pitchers all crash and burn after the season starts.

Three out of 5 days they can compete against anyone. On the 4th and 5th days, I wouldn't be so sure.

They mishandled Buchholz to the point where they helped wreck the 2011 season.

I think it is Bard's spot to lose. If he doesn't s*** himself or get injured in Spring training, he will be in the rotation, and i am good with that. I have been curious to see what he can do as a starter since last August, but I have to acknowledge that there is an element of risk making him a starter given his history. Taking a risk with one rotation spot is not a huge deal. You can usually plug one hole if you need to. Two rookies or converted relievers is much more problematic. The risk goes up exponentially in my mind.

Every one of those guys we picked up is either badly damaged goods or a complete slug. Cook is really the only one with significant major league success, and his body is shot. The guy has had more arm and health issues and he really can't break a pane of glass. Jamie Moyer would have been a better option. If they are going to keep Aceves in the Pen, they have to hope that Doubront or Tazawa can step up and take a rotation spot. If one of those guys is able to win the spot, we will still be starting the season with 2 rookie starters in the rotation-- Bard is essentially a rookie when it comes to starting. Two rookies in the rotation is not a very good position to be in. As I said earlier, when the Yanks started 2 rookies (Kennedy and Hughes), they missed the playoffs for the only time in 17 seasons.