a700hitter

No one has signed Madson yet, so we don't know how much he will get or for how long. He jumped at offering Ortiz arbitration that will result in an overpay that would have been better put to use for Papelbon. While Bailey will be under team control for a few years, he is arbitration eligible. He should make $3.5 million this season and that will go up each year if we are luck enough that he stays healthy and performs well. He's not going to a be a huge financial bargain. We'll be paying him market value through the arbitration system on a yearly basis.

How has it worked so far. It's not like he has picked up any bargains. He's made 2 trades and one FA acquisition. The market price of the players has not come down. Palyer after player has come off the FA boards and the trade targets like Gio have gone elsewhere too. We got Melancon and Bailey. I know little about melancon, but hopefully he has a live arm that can be useful, and Bailey has had a lot of arm issues. Our FA acquisition is Kelly Shoppach. He hit under the Mendoza line last year, so I don't think he was a tremendous value play. I don't know how the patient approach has worked so well thus far other than the waiting part.

I have been reading in the MLB TradeRumor site that certain baseball people think that Cherries is waiting to see if someone cheap- a bargain-- falls to him further into the off season. That's a risky strategy. This team has a few critical holes. First and foremost, it needs one more reliable starter. If we get one and fill in less critical areas like a RH RFer and another bullpen arm-- maybe a Wheeler, the Sox will be a very strong team-- a playoff team. Without the additional starter, they are not a strong team and I don't see the playoffs in 2012. Everyone will jump ugly on me that one starter can't make that much difference. I think it does. First of all, if you start the season with 2 starters (Aceves and Bard) who have never been starters in MLB except for a couple of emergency starts, you are going nowhere. Period. I predicted that the 2008 Yankes were going nowhere around May1st of that year (and I never count out the Yanks), because they had 2 rookies in their rotation. It didn't work for them and it ain't going to work for us. If we get another bona fide starter, Aceves can go back to his very valuable role as a swing-man and that will make the whole bullpen better. If Cherries loses his gamble and a cheap bargain Starting Pitcher doesn't fall into his lap, he is risking the entire 2012 season IMO. I think they should do their due diligence on the guys that are still out there or available for trade and bite the bullet and make the move before some other team gets the guy Cherries wants. They are probably going over the cap anyway, so the financial risk is not huge. The risk of coming up empty is enormous. If we hear that they can plug the holes during the season, that might as well signal a s*** season at Fenway, because major pitching holes are rarely filled during the season, and when they are filled during the season, they are usually very expensive.

Thanks Fred! And Happy New Year to you in less than 3 hours.

You are just going to get the, "but he didn't have to say anything about it" response as if that changes the fact that Bobby called Carl and Carl blew him off.

I guess today it is unreasonable to expect a player to show common courtesy and return his bosses phone call.

And that determines whether someone is a good manager?

DickWilliams 2 rings 4 World Series.

Taking your point, Bobby V places a call to CC and CC doesn't return the call, but Bobby V says nothing to the press. There's no issue... really? Does Bobby V forget that he called CC under your scenario or does he ignore the fact that CC snubbed him? Isn't the issue between Bobby V and CC the same whether or not the press knows?

When Dick Wiliams took the helm of the Sox in 1967, he said that there had been too many Chiefs on the team, and there could be only one Chief. The first thing he did was strip Yaz of his Captain status. Yaz was a 2 time batting champion and the only star on the team. He went to Williams and told him that he'd do anything that he wanted him to do. That's ow you greet your boss after you have stunk up the place of business the prior season. I mention Williams, because he was Valentines first manager. All Bobby V did was make a phone call.

Happy New Year to you too.

It did make me laugh. Glad to see you back posting. But remember that I said none would make an impact prior to 2013. I am on record a few times specifying that by "impact" I mean a starting player who performs average or above average for a major leaguer a his position. I am not seeing anything like that prior to 2013, if then.

I have one poster on ignore-- Dutchy's offspring. If you saw the harassing, intimidating and obnoxious pm's from the guy, you might understand. BTW, ignoring someone instead of fighting with them is not intolerance. He can say whatever he likes, and like a coward, I am sure that he potshots me on a regular basis even though he knows that I will not engage with him. Telling someone to shut up or to stop arguing their position is intolerant. Maybe you didn't understand the term?

Hey you are the one that made the news in the first post somehow relevant to my opinion of it. It was just a statement of fact. He was eliminated as a possibility. You somehow said that it was an irrelevant post because I would not have liked him in our OF. Whether I would have loved or hated the Sox to get him is not really relevant to the fact that he is no longer an option. You made it about me, hence my mockingly referring to myself in the third person. I guess you didn't pick up on the mocking part.

I am very tolerant. I am not telling people not to be too sensitive. I am not telling people to let go of things or trying to shut down discussion. Have at it. It's just not really worthy of such a controversy. He said. I have a call into CC and I am looking forward to talking to him. Question: Bobby, have you talked to him yet. Bobby: No, not yet. OMG, this should eliminate him from consideration as a US Ambassador. He could throw off the delicate balance of world peace with such an irresponsible remark.

I didn't say that I cared that he was eliminated from consideration just that he was eliminated. There had been stories and blurbs since last season that Quentin was a possible Sox target. None of those articles or blurbs said that their information was relevant only if A700 liked the idea of getting him. We need a right handed OFer. Quentin is no longer a possibility. That's just part of today's news. I am glad of that development. So, I still don't know what kind of point you are trying to make or shot you are trying to give.

Who called you thin skinned. I have never called you that. I have called you intolerant, but that has been about the extent of it.