a700hitter

Over my many years of being a fan and doing analysis like above, I have learned that when you start piling up th "ifs" it means that your team will not be very good. Rarely, do all or most of the "ifs" occur. More likely only a few come through and that is not enough to be a good ball club. You have a highlighted a bunch of "ifs" and that is only with regard to the bullpen. We have other "ifs" besides the pen. Bard and Aceves holding down rotation spots over the course of a season is a huge unknown. Reddick or Kalish holding down RF for an entire season and giving the team good offensive production is an "if" too. It's not a huge issue, but it is far from a certainty. I'd feel a lot better if we got a good RH bat to share OF duties. If Cherries can build a good pen, a lot of our issues go away, but there goes that word "if" again. Truly, at this point, this team can go hard in either direction-- very good or a no-contender. Things are developing very slowly and it's frustrating. As Fred said, we have gotten worse since the end of the season. We are waiting for moves to turn that around. Of course there have been years like 1975, when 2 kids like Rice and Lynn come up from the minors to become the 2 best players in the league, but I am not holding my breath on that. Even though it was the age before the internet and ESPN and Sports Talk radio, we still knew about Lynn and Rice while they were in the minors. They were that good.

Tazawa can't have many shots left. It's do or die for him in the next 2 seasons.

I thought he had a back or shoulder issue during the season too.

Can we really place a lot of faith in Jenks making a big contribution? If he decides that he still wants to make a living throwing a baseball and comes to camp under 500 lbs, he could be a big part of the pen, but I have to view that as a hope more than an expectation.

It is a very odd delivery, but I don't know if it is successful at deceiving the batters.

Dubront seems to have arm trouble every season.

Predictions cannot be trademarked. If they could, I'd be leading the league in that category.

I don' t think our system has many real jewels that will be stars of the future.

I thought he had elbow problems in LA.

We had him more than 10 years ago and he was a veteran then. He wasn't very good for us then, so I'm not high on him coming back to the Sox.

It's funny that you should say that. Met fans thought the same thing after 2007, but 2008 ended the same way. I remember that a Jet fan said to me after the 1995 season that it couldn't get worse. They had a 3-14 record. i told him that I wasn't so sure about that. In 1996, they had a 1-15 season.:lol:

And you called me old for taking a short nap. Jeez, it's 9:30.

Baseball brings me enjoyment. I love to watch the game and discuss the game. That's positive I don't need to wave pom poms to feel positive about something. I always root for the Red Sox, no matter what players have been run out on the field. That doesn't translate into me having to be a fan of the FO or deluding myself into thinking the FO is doing a great job. I root for the guys on the field, not the guys in the suits in the offices. With regard to them the only interest I have is for them to give us a good team. If they don't, they will get my criticism.

I think she is trying to tell you that we don't like your type around here. Seriously, we've agreed and disagreed strongly at times, but we kept it civil and we kept the discussion focused on the issues not each other. That's the way it should be.

People should be disagreeing with their point of view instead of objecting to the posters. It's very hard to find much positive to extoll right now when the biggest positive move is Melancon. He ain't Papelbon or Bard no matter how much we would like to wish it to be, and I am really hoping that the guy will be good. Benny Boy has been honest all along which is the most positive thing that I could say about him thus far. He said that he would understand if papelbon got a deal that he couldn't turn down. He made it clear that Paps wasn't on the team's radar. He said that they wouldn't make any big moves at the Winter Meetings and they didn't. He said that they would make moves after the meetings that would be "under the radar" and that too was accurate. Other than that, he has done little positive. The Ortiz arbitration offer was a ridiculous blunder. We are waiting for the positive. He has an entire bullpen to rebuild. If he is able to build a good bullpen, they will have a very good team. He hasn't yet. When he does, he will get his props.

All Hail Red Sox Nation!!! I pledge my life and loyalty to the leaders of Red Sox Nation!!! What interesting discourse that would make.