a700hitter

Our pitching would do just fine against the Phillies as long as we have Beckett, Lester and Buchholz in the rotation. The Philly offense is overirated. We will need another bat to be competitive against Philly pitching, because Ortiz will have to sit for 4 games.

The Mets are not in rebuilding mode. They are more likely in dismantling mode.

The Yankees apparently turned down a deal for KRod. http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/07/13/report-yankees-rejected-francisco-rodriguez-deal/related

Carl Crawford is ahead of Derek Jeter's hit pace at the same age. When viewed in the appropriate context, Crawford is in some very rare company.

Their financial woes are not a secret. They will lose a controlling interest in the Mets for $1 if they cannot repay $200 million in two years.

He's making less than Agon, and they are very different types of players. It's very difficult to have a basis for comparison.

I think it will take very little in the way of prospect talent to land Beltran. If someone offers to eat the entire salary, that team will get him. The Wilpons have no thought of building for the future right now. They are in survival mode.

The issue that I have with this is that the man is dead and has no ability to "clear" himself of accusations being made against him-- often by people born after he had died. There is very tangible and extensive evidence of his philanthropic and charitable works, but some people would rather besmirch his legacy with very questionable evidence. He left the world a better place as the result of his life.

You don't need to worry about it. The Yankees will be watching the Series from their couches.

PTBNL for KRod. I told you all that Beltran was not going to cost us top prospects.

Spitball, you know your Red Sox history. Thanks for filling in the gaps. I don't like mob mentality condemnation of people without knowledge of all the facts. Yawkey was by all accounts a hard drinker, and some of his drinking buddies were the unsavory sort. He was close friends with Ty Cobb until Cobb almost beat him to death in a drunken rage. After that Yawkey decided to come back east and he bought the Red Sox. I never heard a negative story about him from anyone who knew the man, and his philanthropic and charitable contributions speak for themselves. Higgins was a despicable character who was not promoted to GM but rather put in the GM role so as to remove him from the dugout and the public. Yawkey almost never fired anyone. Higgins was a figure head as GM. Dick O'Connell was already in the organization and he was calling the shots even though he did not have the official title. African American players were being brought into the organization and Higgins had nothing to do with it. After Higgins left the Red Sox, he got convicted of vehicular manslaughter while drunk. He served some time and died of a heart attack almost immediately after his release in his 50's.

With no home field advantage in the World Series, we are going to need another bat.

George Burns?

Home field advantage is in the hands of a crack head.

My opinion of CJ Wilson is not very high, and he is giving me no reason to change my mind.

Bill Veeck, and he was an outcast among the other owners.

This is a specious argument. The Red Sox of the 60's and 70's traded everyone. Only Yaz and Rico didn't get traded from the 60's. They traded Conigliaro, Hawk Harrelson, Lonborg, and Mike Andrews. They traded Lonborg to get Tommy Harper. They traded Mike Andrews to get Luis Aparicio. From their crop in the 1970's they traded Carbo, Lynn, Burleson, Rick Miller and Fisk who was set free. The only player the kept was Jim Rice. Also,l the late 1960's Sox fileded a team with George Scott, Joe Foy, Reggie Smith, Jose Tartabull and Elston Howard and John Wyatt was the closer. They were either every day players or regular platoon guys. That is not fielding "very few" minorities. As far as your suggestion that I read about this stuff, I am fairly certain that in following this team for 45 years that I have read more than 99% of Red Sox fans. I have read almost every book written by or about the Red Sox. You are the one that is taking second hand accounts and using it to condemn someone.

Yes, he is a hack.

The sport practiced institutionalized racism. That's the way it was. The fact that the Red Sox were last to integrate doesn't make their owner any more racist than Yankee ownership that integrated a whole 2 years earlier. BTW it was the Yankees continuing reluctance to bring in african american players while relying on their aging white stars throughout the 60's that made their dynasty crumble. The hiring of Dick O'Connell and the subsequent influx of black stars helped the Sox establish themselves as a contending team and surpass the Yankees. No blacks in baseball was thought to be sound business practice at the time, because it was reflective of society. They didn't fail to integrate because they didn't like blacks. They didn't do it because they didn't think that their fan bases would tolerate it. Does that make it less evil? No, but it certainly spreads the blame to lots of people including Joe Fan. It's unfair to label Yawkey as a racist, because you don't know anything about the man. All you know is that he was an owner during a period of institutionalized racism. To conclude that he was an evil racist, is just an uninformed mob mentality. The uninformed mob mentality goes in the other direction as well. Cold blooded murderers like Che are held up by many as beacons for freedom, when he executed thousands of people without trial, and oh btw, he was a racist. That's not my opinion. That's in his own writings. Let's instead call a generous humanitarian like Tom Yawkey a racist. Here's a fact about Yawkey. The Red Sox were not his main business. Based upon all reports, for several years, he was a neglectful owner who concentrated on his other businesses. He left the keys to the store in the hands of some good old boys, including Joe Cronin (funny that no one calls him a racist). They controlled the franchise and ran it into the ground. In the early 60's Yawkey turned more of his attention to the Sox. He gave the okay to sign the hottest prospect for the biggest signing bonus up to that time-- Yaz. He cleaned house and brought in Dick O'Connell who was eventually made GM. O'Connell probably signed more african american players than any GM in Red Sox history. The franchise turned the corner and returned to prominence. It was Yawkey who cleaned house. By all accounts Yawkey was a drunk and an absentee owner throughout the 50's. I have never read an account from a player whether they were black or white that Yawkey was a racist. But by all means let's just label people based on circumstantial evidence and at best second and third hand accounts. While we are at it, let's label as racists whites who live in predominantly white neighborhoods and blacks who live in predominantly black neighborhoods. The circumstances would indicate that they are racist. Don't you think. Maybe Yawkey was a racist. We don't know. There is no record of his beliefs about the issue. There are no first hand accounts of his actions or opinions in this regard. All we know is that he was an owner of a team in a business that was segregated. Unless we are willing to condemn every baseball fan during those years, every player, coach, owner and front office worker, it's a little unfair to paste that label on Tom Yawkey, who did more selfless charitable humanitarian work than almost everyone else combined from that era.

It will not take long for teams to figure out that they shouldn't challenge Ortiz if he has Salty or Drew protecting him. Putting Crawford behind Ortiz provides more protection and it helps supercharge the bottom of the order.

Using Jacko as a barometer, it is clear that the move for Theo to make is to get Beltran. He'll be available mainly for $. Prospects are secondary. He's an All Star performer who is putting up nice numbers in a pitchers park for a lousy team. RF is our worst position. Beltran has said he would waive his NTC to come to Boston. The Mets have to move him or they will get nothing when he walks. It's such a no-brainer move that there really should be no debate about whether we should acquire him. Of course Jacko says that we don't need a RF, but instead we should get a pitcher. That should clinch it for you if you ever have any doubt. Jacko is spouting his Yankee propaganda, because he knows that our offense with Beltran would be an unstoppable juggernaut. He is hoping that Reddick stays hot, so Theo looks to fill another need. Theo, please disregard the opinions of Yankee saboteurs. Get Beltran. It is a perfect fit. Jacko has also said that he would vomit if we got Reyes, but he doubts that the Sox will get him. Theo, I implore you to make the scum dog Yankee fans cry and vomit. You will have the money after this season.

The line up was rocking with Crawford in the 6th spot before he got injured.