a700hitter

6 years $90 million is not a bad deal. I still think he will get more. Ben continues to sit with thumb firmly planted in his ass. We have no manager, coaching staff and still no compensation from the Cubs.

Wow! The feeding frenzy is growing. I hope you all are having fun.

I guess my recollection about the discussion was mistaken. I had remembered being challenged on the seriousness of the Mets financial condition. Maybe it was another poster. You say that you have been igmoring me and I certainly have not engaged you. Yet, you took this opportunity to take a few unsolicited swipes at me. That's not in the spirit of not engaging with me. In fact, under the rules of the forum, it is considered baiting.

Wow, I didn't think he was being condescending at all. What's going on with all the lashing out E1? Seriously.

I figured that I would take that route as opposed to the open mocking in which you were engaged.

Even if Bard fills Papelbon's shoes, we have no one to fill Bard's shoes.

I think Yeszir might be pulling our leg.:dunno:

I wish the FO would just man up one of these times and state that the guy was not in their plans. They let Damon take a beating from the fans and be booed mercilessly for years, when the truth be told, they didn't want him. This case is even worse. They never presented Papelbon with any offer, nor did they make any effort to communicate to him that they were interested in keeping him.

He's driving on the same highway as Mo like you said.

E1, you never responded to this. Am I on the right track with this?

Take what lightly? What are you talking about? Intellectually dishonest? If I'm wrong, I admit it.:dunno: If the GM is wrong about the same thing, it still goes against his record.

Most self professed arrogant know it alls are.:dunno: I'm real smart and good looking too. Are you trying to get me to feel bad about myself?

I can only have it one way-- either I am right or I am wrong. The same goes for Ben. If we are both wrong, my being wrong doesn't cancel out his mistake. He would still be wrong. You know the old saying about "two wrongs..." Unfortunately for Ben, he has to answer to JH. Still not sure I get your point. Shrugs.

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.