a700hitter

Pudge Rodriguez just gunned out a guy. He's 40+ and he is light years better than Salty defensively. After Fisk, the only Sox catcher that I can remember that could throw was Pena.

I don't know if I would have picked this time to experiment or play a hunch.:dunno:

Chieng Ming Wang is actually useful again.

Against a soft throwing righty at Yankee Stadium, I wouldn't be surprised if Crawford goes deep.

Dice K will not be ready at the start of the season-- maybe not the entire season.

2012 would be the time to move him to the rotation if the Sox bolster the end of the pen with Heath Bell.

Worse than Wakefield?

Do any of our pitchers have stamina. We are at the bottom of the heap on QS. He's a strong kid. He should have no problem being better than the garbage that we have had in the 4th and 5th slots for the last several years.

It have read and heard that he still wants to be a starter. He would be a huge upgrade over Wakefield, Miller, and the cast of clowns this year. He'd just have to be reliable and able to take the ball every 5th day. We have not had a #5 starter do that since Bronson Arroyo.

As usual, the 2009 team had depth problems. He went dumpster diving that off season. (BTW: I should have copyrighted 'dumpster diving", because it has caught on) He got Penny (almost useless), Smoltz (completely useless) and Baldelli (injured when he was needed). He wasted $12 million on this garbage. He also completely failed to address the SS situation. Having Nick Green as a starting SS on a contender is a glaring failure. 2009 was another season where the Sox could have gone much further if there had been some depth.

Tito will be the first to be sacrificed because of the under performance of certain players. He will be held responsible if he can't get the pistons firing. I've said it before, that I don't think Theo will get fired after this season regardless of the outcome. If they lose and Tito gets fired, Theo will have a short leash. No playoffs in 2012 and Theo is gone.

If Lester continues his first inning woes tomorrow, I think my head will explode.

I think if they make it, the players will have to dig very deep and they will deserve credit. Theo will get credit too, because he built a team with resiliency and character. If they don't have enough talent, character and resiliency make it to the playoffs, IMO it will be the responsibility of the FO.

I'd cheer Theo if I saw him anywhere and thank him for the championship teams. This isn't about liking or not liking Theo. It's about assessing performance. The final chapter of this season has not been written. It might be a glorious end. I have to keep reminding people that in the poll that I posted, I voted that the Sox would win the WS, not collapse. This team is spiraling out of control and circling the drain, but we still don't know if they will survive. If they fail, it doesn't mean that Theo did everything wrong, and conversely, if they succeed, it doesn't mean he did everything right. The difference between being a success or a failure can be slim difference. Right now, we are all concerned about a total collapse, so we are discussing the reasons for such a collapse. It is still a hypothetical discussion. I have said it many times in this forum that I root for the team and its players. I have never been a fan or advocate of anyone in any FO. That's just me. Finally, yes this FO has brought us something that no other Sox FO has been able to accomplish in my lifetime. However, if this collapse continues and there is no post season, it will be the biggest collapse in Red Sox history without a close second.

Angels are down 2-1 in the top of the 8th inning.

I think Texas is a very hard place to be a successful starting pitcher. The heat is so oppressive that most pitchers wilt by August. Wilson has had great stamina and consistency over the last 2 years in Texas. We need guys that can go deep into games. Why do you see bust potential in him?

Yes, whether he has done a good job vs bad job hinges on how things turn out the next few weeks. You get judged on results. That's what you are not understanding. Based on what you are saying, a team that finshes 12 games out of first every year could argue that you can't judge them based on those 12 games. Similarly, a pitcher that has one bad inning every game giving up 5 runs is a bad pitcher even though he held them scoreless for the rest of the game. Curt Schilling always said that the difference between winning and losing is the execution of 5 or 6 pitches. If you don't execute them, you lose even though you executed most of your other pitchers. You get judged based on results. Fighters that fight great for 10 rounds but suck in the last 2 rounds are never champions. If the Sox finish the fight standing, it is a good job. If they miss the playoffs after spending so much money and having such a big lead, it will be considered a failure. He will not be judged on a small sample size, but on the results at the end of 162+ games. Just like in an election, the results aren't in yet, so we don't know if Theo is a winner or a loser. That's the real world.

He has a load of hits. He is on track for 3,000 hits.

I think the need for pitching is much more critical than you do. Lots of experts were predicting regression by Buchholz this season. I think it remains to be seen hom this broken back will affect hi delivery and effectiveness, and even if fully healthy, we don't know if he can repeat 2010. Lackey is looking more and more like a complete bust, and no one would be surprised if he follows Dice K down the Tommy John surgery road. I would advocate Aceves as a 5th starter or depth/spot starter. I think the Sox need a pitching stud like CJ Wilson, because our current crop of starters can't go deep into games and that is a bullpen killer.

I said it before you posted this^. If the stop the bleeding and get to the playoffs and make a good post season run, I have said that the criticism goes away and he will get and deserve the credit. No one is fixing blame based on a small sample side. We are debating where the blame will lie 'if' they collapse and don't make the post season. If that happens, there will be a 3 year record of failure-- not a small sample side. If the pull out of this nosedive and represent themselves well in the playoffs, there is no failure. We all acknowledge that we are discussing this issue hypothetically. In 5 days or less the situation will no longer be hypothetical. After the way that the Rays s*** on themselves tonight, the Red Sox road to the playoffs will be easier, but every time this Red Sox team gets a break, it has s*** on itself bringing it to the brink.