a700hitter

When Ted Williams managed the Senators, he did amazing things with some terrible hitters. He helped Ed Brinkman raise his average almost 80 points. He hit in the .180's 2 straight years before Teddy Ballgame took over. He turned Mike Epstein into a solid power hitter. Del Unser's average went up more than 50 points. Those 3 guys and Ken McMullen all had their career best years under Williams in 1969. Williams' coaching involved so much more than telling hitters to get a good pitch to rip. He knew the mechanics of hitting down to the finest detail. In explaining how to hit the eephus pitch he said that the batter had to adjust the upper cut of his swing about 15 degrees to hit the ball squarely. One time he was trying to get Bobby Doerr to adjust his swing in batting practice. Doerr said that he didn't feel comfortable with the adjustment. Williams got angry and told Doerr to go ahead a stay a crappy .280 hitter for the rest of his career. Typical Williams.

That era had lots of talent in the heavyweight division, but Ali and Frazier stood out from the rest of the pack. Foreman came at the tail end of that era (early 70's) and he was a total beast too. Foreman was never given as much credit for his boxing skill as he was so powerful that after 3 or 4 rounds his opponents usually looked like stuffed animals that had been run over repeatedly by a tractor trailer. In the mid to late 60's, in addition to Ali and Frazier, there was Oscar Bonavena (from Argentia I think) and George Chuvalo (Canadian). Bonavena was a pretty good fighter. Chuvalo was a punching bag but he always put up a good fight. Jimmy Ellis was a very good boxer. Frazier beat Ellis for Ali's vacant title when Ali was suspended. Buster Mathis wasn't a bad fighter either, and Jerry Quarry was an excellent all around fighter. He's been called the greatest heavyweight that never won the title. If Frazier is in Hospice, it is the end. Pain control is the only concern. My dad was in hospice at age 92. Unfortunately Frazier's athletic heart and lungs will prolong the end. My dad's superior fitness resulted in him lasting 8 days in an unconscious state with no food, water or IV. Brutal stuff. Let go Champ. Time to throw in the towel.

Beltran does give you more flexibility against NL teams, but Beltran's market value will be much higher than Ortiz's IMO.

There will always be injuries and often key injuries. They need to be deep. Their pitching and bench depth has been too thin the past few seasons and could not survive some key injuries.

I've bolded the guys I like from your list.

I'd take a flyer on Wang. Normally, i am against dumpster diving, but Wang is still young and he looked pretty good at the end of last season.

If we let Ortiz walk, we need to get another big bat or the lineup will take a big turn down. Beltran would probably cost more than Ortiz, so what would be gained. We can probably get Ortiz for $8 million per year-- good value.

I don't understand all of the Theo idolatry on this forum. One Division title in 9 years is not a great record. In 2004 after signing Schilling and Foulke, I was confident going into the season that we would win the division. But for some last minute miracles, i.e. the Bloody Sock game and two reversed umpire calls there is no Championship. We should have won the Division in 2005 and 2011 too, but we didn't. He won once -- the same number of times that Duquette won in a shorter time frame. In the 80's when there wer only 2 divisions and no wild card, the Sox won 3 Division Titles. All in all the results from Theo fell below the expectations that I had after 2004.

To quote myself in Unforgiven, "Deserves has nothing to do with it." If the Sox can fit Reyes into their budget and they think they need him to improve the team, Scutaro would be a pretty good utility player whether he deserves it or not. Reyes would never sign with us if he wasn't going to play SS. Scutaro has played a little OF, and I'm sure that he could handle LF at Fenway. Crawford's speed would be better utilized in spacious RF. Scutaro would be the guy who would change positions not Reyes. Between platooning in the OF and playing 3 IF positions, Scutaro should get 450 ABs. I'm liking the idea. Take note Ben. You'd serve yourself well to consider some of the stuff we come up with here. Even Doji has the occasional good idea. JK Doji.

if they bring in Reyes, I was thinking that Scutaro would be a solid utility player. He can paly 2nd, 3rd or SS. He'd get plenty of playing time with Youk's frequent injuries.

It will put a lot of pressure on teams to win their Divisions, which is the way it should be.

I saw several of his fights. His nickname fit him perfectly. He never took a step backward.

Prediction: Revenues from Fenway Bricks will net us Jose Reyes.

Replacing Ortiz is one way to go. If Ortiz is not retained, they will need a premium bat. Beltran should foot the bill, but it looks like the Yanks will pursue Beltran driving up the price. Lavarnway is not a 2012 replacement for Ortiz. I'll be happy if he breaks camp as the back up catcher and eventually win the starting position during the season from the barely adequate but tall Saltalamachia.

How will they do the bolded part of # 1 below without spending $?

There will be about $3 or 4 million left over. The 2011 payroll was at $161 million and the Luxury Tax threshold was $178 million. It is very possible that there will be no Luxury tax limit in 2012, and even if there is it will be higher than $178 million, so we have a decent amount of room, and I think they will be willing to spend to make the necessary improvements.

The Phillies have become the NL version of the Yankees. I wouldn't be surprised if they poached Reyes and let Rollins walk. Mets fans would open their veins.

They should be able to re-sign Ortiz and Papelbon without increasing the 2012 payroll. Each made $12+ million in 2011. I can't imagine that the cost of both them would total more than $25 million in 2012.

$14 million coming off the books for Drew and $9 million for Cameron is a nice start.

The FO makes a habit of lowering expectations. I put little stock in what Cherrington is saying publicly.

It wasn't about Lars Anderson. It was just general commentary on prospects.