a700hitter

I don't view Kuroda or Jackson or even an old injury prone Oswalt as top tier pitchers. They are IMO most definitely in the second tier, and we can't afford them. Once you dip into the third tier, you don't know what you are getting. They are just warm bodies who, if you are very lucky, can take the ball every 5th day. They are usually not good at all. Maholm is a warm body with a live arm, but he is not good. With regard to your optimistic outlook about Bard, we're all hoping that he transitions well to starting, but the truth is no one, not even Sox management, knows how this will turn out. He could be very solid. He could blow up. This could ruin his career like it did to Joba. We just don't know. We also don't know about Aceves. The odds are against both adapting well, pitching effectively and being durable enough to give us 175-200 innings. They need one more solid starter so they don't have to roll the dice on 2 relievers making the transition to starting. I don't think Maholm is the answer.

There is virtually no chance of making the post season with the staff as it is currently constructed. In past years when we had much deeper pitching, the season always tested that depth and it was never anywhere near as deep as we thought it was at the beginning of the season. Not only is the current staff thin, but it will have 2 newbie starters. That ain't gonna work out.

This had been predicted in an earlier press report. http://www.talksox.com/forum/damn-yankees/15886-2011-2012-offseason-thread-2.html#post714275

well then I would place Duckworth ahead of Wilson.

As much as I would love to add King Felix to the staff, I can't see parting with our only legitimate RH power hitter.

At least, the Yankees can't get them if they sign extensions.

Jenks is looking like a total zero again in 2012. Thanks Theo. Ben has one more BP slot to fill.

I have no desire at this point to see Farrell as a future Red Sox manager. I thought he was over rated as a pitching coach. As a manager, he manages his own team's running game in a reckless, borderline irrational manner. I didn't view his approach to his team's running game as merely aggressive or even innovative. It just made no sense at times.

The top tier FA pitchers are gone, except for Madson, and he's a reliever. We missed out on Gio Gonzalez. The Cubs want too much for Garza. It's being reported that Oswalt, Kuroda and Jackson are out of our price range. Where does this leave us? Where is this patient wait and see approach going to take us? At this point, I am really hoping that Benny has a rabbit in his hat that we don't know about, because none of the other publicly reported options, e.g Saunders are very encouraging.

E1, when a scout follows a team for a week maybe two and he puts together a scouting report that says you can run on these guys, their pitchers are slow to the plate don't use a slide step etc., do you think that scout's management asks if he has any documentation of that philosophy? I don't think so. That manager comes to Fenway and runs on the Sox like crazy based on the scouting report. I watch almost every game and I attend about 6 to 10 games every year. In Farrell's entire tenure, I cannot remember even one time a Sox pitcher using a slide step. That shows me that not only wasn't it taught or encouraged, but it was probably discouraged. In 4 years you think someone would have used it just out of pure frustration of our inability to keep runners out of scoring position. In addition to my own observations regarding this issue, I have heard the announcers discuss several times that the Sox did not use the slide step because it changed the pitchers delivery and they would tend to leave their pitches up in the zone out of the slide step delivery. Beyond my observation of more 500 games and my recollection of what the announcers said on several occasions, I have no documentary proof of this philosophy. However, if I were a scout, I would be quite comfortable in telling my team that they wouldn't have to worry about the slide step. I'd also be very comfortable as a scout telling my team that Dice K likes to nibble at the corners and he doesn't attack the zone. I have no documentation of that. I'd also have no problem telling my team that Beckett is completely gassed after 100 pitches and he hangs his curve ball. I don't need documentation for any of this.

I think they are trying very hard not to bust the cap, and frankly if another pitcher or 2 come off the board, it wouldn't be worth busting the cap for the likes of Joe Saunders.

That is a legitimate fear. We still don't know what caused the stress fractures, so how can we be confident that they will not recur? I am not very confident about getting a full strong season from him.

We may have to live with Harden, because the news about Oswalt and Garza and Kuroda is not encouraging. Personally, I think Harden will hit the DL before the finish of April. Plus, I don't think he will come so cheap.

The Sox were only 2 years behind the Yankees.

I don't think the FO wanted him back either, but they miscalculated.