a700hitter

I hope Crawford is home in Houston and not reading the Boston press. The Boston Press is as out of control as I can remember them. It's like a feeding frenzy. This is not good for the franchise. The team had a terrible organizational failure with plenty of blame to go around. The organization needs to figure out how to fix itself. The ownership group is a savvy group that built the franchise into a gold mine. They'll figure it out. The press just can't resist stabbing these guys in the back as they leave. It's despicable and cowardly, because they kiss their asses while they are here.

I misread your post. I thought you were talking about 2011. Pedroia did break his foot on a foul tip. Varitek broke his foot on a foul tip and VMart broke his finger on a foul tip. I don't know if I would call Youk's injury an impact injury. He didn't tear ligaments. He tore a muscle in his hand which was kind of freakish. Wakefield was in bad condition in 2010. Beckett's conditioning was horrible in 2010. He couldn't get past 5 innings. Dice K was in terrible condition too. In general, our starting pitching was in terrible condition. Lackey was fat in 2010.

It was a stupid and pointless move by JH. If Crawford was feeling pressure to perform, knowing that the owner thinks he is overpaid isn't going to help him.

It should really help his confidence knowing that the owner was against signing him.

So you blame Tito? I guess you don't think it was all bad luck.

If you owned the team, what would you have done after the season ended?

Fate? Bad luck? One guy got fired and the other guy they no longer wanted. The owners are blaming some people. JH today said that he didn't support the Crawford signing. I guess he blames Theo.

So, in the days to come we should also find out that Lackey was Theo's call and that Theo had been playing the guitar during games and that he was doing coke. Let the smears begin.

I also thought the Sox would win the World Series this season or at least go to the post season. Didn't you, Red Sox Rules?

Yes I was.

I'm not sure what point you are making here. Are you saying that the FA acquisitions brought in payment streams that better FA acquisitions would not have brought in?

I have a question about evaluating Theo's legacy. It seems that we will have to wait 2 -3 years to see how his last classes of draftees work out. Should we take into consideration the prospect that we get for Theo when determining his legacy?

Theo's Big Ticket FA Acquistions (i.e. anything over $10 million): Lackey Crawford Drew Dice K Lugo Cameron Jenks Renteria Clement Foulke Am I missing anyone? Do we really need to research WAR on these guys. It's a damning list.

That's a strong word that he has been using-- one that we here at TalkSox reserve for Yankee fans, but only on rare occasions.

Soxsport, you are right. The stories about the poor conditioning came out in August before the collapse. Youk and AGon were identified as guys who could benefit from losing 20-25 lbs. Our pitchers start breathing heavily after 4 innings. The team was not prepared for a full season.

If you mess up on a $5 million signing like Smoltz and Penny, it doesn't devastate a team's finances. They are low cost moves with a low probability of success. If you hit on one of those occasionally it's great, but the probability of hitting on one of those is low. When you pay the money for a big ticket luxury car, you don't expect it to perform like a yugo. The big ticket guy may not completely justify his salary, but he shouldn't perform at Darnell McDonald levels. Theo purchased too many yugos for Masserati money. The last straw was Lackey, who was the worst starting pitcher in Sox history. Historically, our GM's have only had to pay the minimum salary to get a pitcher who was not nearly as bad as Lackey.

But for the stench of the collapse, Beckett's trade value would have been very high. I definitely would have considered moving him in the off season if the Sox signed CJ Wilson to replace him. However, to much of the stench of this collapse is getting on Beckett decreasing his trade value, because attempts to trade him would be looked upon as an attempt to unload a problem. I'd keep him. He came to camp in 2011 in better condition. They need to stay on top of his conditioning during the season. Beckett is not the problem for this team. With regard to the beer drinking incident, all I have to say is that I am shocked. (Sarcasm). Major league baseball players drinking beer in the clubhouse? (More sarcasm). It reminds me of when I went to the parents' orientation when my son went to college. One of the mothers was very upset because she had spotted beer in the refrigerator of one of the dorm rooms on the tour. She demanded to know how the drinking laws were enforced. As this idiot prattled on about the beer violations, I leaned over to my wife and said: "should I tell her about the drugs and the sex?". LoL! Let's impose restrictions on beer in the clubhouse!!!! LOL!