a700hitter

Who is using platitudes instead of analysis?

The money $4-5 million that they could have saved if they hadn't offered Oritz arb would have come in very handy in trying to sign Oswalt.

So you don't have to laugh. It's not cause to get mad.

Fred's posts are very colorful. While some of you get ticked off by some of his nicknames and expressions, I get a chuckle out of that stuff. I don't always agree with his substantive arguments, but I enjoy the colorful comments and nicknames.

It's beyond me how people were mentioning Miller in the same sentence with Randy Johnson. The guy's stuff is not in the same solar system as Randy Johnson.

I am with you Fred. Of course, people will get bent out of shape about the "no-good washed up bum" comment, but I love it. That's how we would call it in Brooklyn, and we'd still love the guy. People here don't understand that. The one defense that I have of Tek is that the hardest thing for an athlete to do is to admit to himself that he doesn't have it anymore. Not too many leave the game when they have anything left to give. Why should they... they are still young men playing a great game and living a great lifestyle. It's up to management to realize when a player no longer has anything to offer. The Varitek case is a clear one and Ben would have to be a boob to bring him back.

I guess today's big news will be which team signs Coco Crisp.

One trade target that I haven't read a lot about is Bret Myers. What do people here think about him?

If there is any truth to this story, Ben must be a boob.

I think there are a number of pitchers that have had a second surgery, but few make it back. There was some notable MLB rehabbing from a second TJ this year, but I can't remember his name.

We'll have to see what Madson gets and for how many years. We don't know if he is going to get 4 years. Bailey is a great talent who is coming with a great deal of injury risk. The arbitration process will will ensure that he gets his full FMV, so there is not a lot of savings if saving is defined as a discount from fair market value. Sure he is cheaper than Papelbon, but he is not as good as Papelbon. Lastly, why do you think it was the right move to offer Ortiz arbitration?

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.