a700hitter

It's cute how the 3 of you have formed an alliance and staged an uprising against the King. Lol! Power to the people!! Let my people be free! Occupy TalkSox!! Lol!

What in the world are you talking about? LOL! I advocated for keeping Papelbon. There are basically 4 possible outcomes depending on whether the Sox kept him or let him walk- 2 if he walks and 2 if he stays. We did not keep him. Possibility 1-- Papelbon sucks in Philadelphia. Under that scenario, I would have been wrong and Ben would have made the right move, and I'd give him props. 2. Papelbon is vintage Papelbon in Philadelphia. I would be proved right and Ben gets a demerit. If we kept Papelbon; 3. And he continued to be vintage Papelbon, both Ben and I would have been right and Ben gets props. 4. If Papelbon sucks in Boston, I would have been wrong and so would Ben. There is a big difference though. Unfortunately, due to his position as GM he has to take the blame for the bad move. I don't know why this is hard to understand.

Yes, yes and yes.

And as you have told us many times since the end of the season, we shouldn't judge the team based on the end of the year standings. So, what should we use as a basis for determining whether the FO has had a good year... just WAR? Should we look at WAR at the beginning of the season or at the end? What is the better measure for determining success? I think that I'll stick with looking at the traditional standings.

There has been a splashy move. They let Papelbon walk. That will have a ripple effect. And yes, I am waiting for Ben the Boob to get off his thumb and make a move. He has a lot of work to do just to get back to even and make up for losing Papelbon. He's at least a couple of moves away from raising his interim grade from an I/F.

I think the question of whether there should be a sense of urgency has nothing to do with the fans. If there is a sense of urgency, it should be coming from the FO. They have lost a major player which has ripple effects throughout the pitching staff. At this point, neither Bard nor Aceves can be considered as candidates for the starting rotation. If the Yankees and even one other team execute their off season plan quicker than we do, they could take the best pitching options off the table-- and I'm not talking about Wilson, because I don't think the Sox will be moving on him. Also, if some team signs Beltran, we will be necessarily pointed towards Cuddyer driving up his price. He is a nice player, but Beltran is better. The urgency has to do with executing their off season plan. They don't want to be left with slim pickings and few options. They should always have a sense of urgency with regard to executing their plan, but they should have more urgency now, because the organization should understandably want to start heading back in the right direction. It has nothing to do with what the fans want. The FO knows they have a lot of holes now with Papelbon's departure, and there is a limited pool of players from which to fill those holes.

He's a 4th OFer. He's not good in an every day role. He can play all 3 OF positions. He switch hits. He has good speed and little power.

No, 2011 was a disappointment for Pagan. He was healthy most of the season.

Jeremy Hermida was non-tendered. GMs all over baseball are licking their chops. Seriously though, Angel Pagan was non-tendered by the Mets. What do you think about him?

Forget about Kemp coming to the Sox:

Memories can be long.

He's a Randy Velarde -type player.

I don't recall the Sox making any significant moves during the GM Meetings over the past couple of years, but they do have a lot more holes this season.

Really? I am glad you are trying to be more tolerant.

Nah! It's not even Thanksgiving. No one is making moves yet.

And this still hangs in the balance.

I counter with Youk for Santana and Trout.

He's sitting on his thumb.

Dale Sveum and Coco the Chimp are the finalists. My vote is on Coco. The players will likwe the Chimp better and play harder, plus the Chimp will execute superior strategy.

Another banned poster is outed.

Wow, it took a month and a half to decide that Dale Sveum is a finalist. What a diligent search.

This was a headline in today's Boston Herald: When he hits the 3rd, he'll just start windmilling people home. LOL!!