a700hitter

Agreed, but Bay is gone. Holliday will soon be gone. That leaves Beltre, and I don't see them acquiring Beltre until someone takes Lowell. Lowell just came out of surger, and no one will take him until he can resume baseball activity. By then Beltre is gone. Gonzalez is not going to happen no matter how much we pray for it. What's left? It looks like the Kotchman train is on the rails and chugging down the track.

I think the FO went to Plan B too fast. Bay could have been landed by the Sox for probably very little more than they originally offered, but they lost the payroll flexibility by signing Cameron. I don't know why they rushed to sign Cameron. Were other teams knocking on his door? Holliday could also have been an option if Cameron hadn't been signed, because the market for Holliday is proving to be a bit soft. Substituting Cameron and Kotchman for Bay and Lowell is a big net loss offensively which will widen the gap with the Yankees despite the Lackey acquisition. I think the Sox are done making moves. Their off season plan and budget included only one big ticket long term acquisition. They told Bay to make a decision, because they were about to go in a different direction and then they announced the Lackey acquisition. They were going to add a big pitcher or a big bat, but not both. That's not a good formula for catching the Yankees. Did you see the "Kotchman Friendly" article in the Herald. That article is such a transparent plant by the FO. They are trying to pump up his popularity, because he is going to be the Opening Day first baseman in my opinion. There was absolutely no reason to write an article about this guy at this time, except that it was prompted by the FO. This, plus Tito's official declaration of love for the guy means they are selling him to the fan base as the 2010 first baseman. http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/baseball/red_sox/view/20091229red_sox_casey_kotchman_on_claus_nice_list/ Make no mistake about it. The Sox got worse despite the Lackey acquisition. In order to compete with the Yankees, they are going to need to stay healthy while the Yankees suffer a few key injuries, and they will need a big year from Big Papi-- and everyone is writing his obituary. There will be no acquisition of Adrian Gonzalez. Hoyer doesn't want his first major move to be trading the team's young super star to his old boss. He'll want a king's ransom for that. Theo doesn't want to sacrifice the future for a single trade. That's understandable, but they don't want to preserve the future and purchase the present either. Kotchman and Cameron are not the short term answer to making a championship run even with the acquisition of Lackey.

In that same thread you also advocated to get jason Schmidt, Zito, and Andruw Jones (for whom you would have traded Bard, Crisp and Hansen). Oh and you posted that you like the idea of getting Lugo after I said that I hated the idea. Do you think some of those deals might have crippled the team a bit? Lugo did cripple us at SS. Unlike you, I don't view discussions from 3 years ago being relevant to your opinions today. If you'd like me to pull the posts I will, but I deem them to be irrelevant. Pretty much everyone advocated for Zito at one point or another in that thread, so it's a little unfair to attribute to 1 poster. I know that you were deep in that thread for an extended period before this post^, looking for gotcha material.

I've said several times that I go to lots of Mets games. I saw a lot of him, and he was not as good as I had expected him to be.

You are missing the point. If you are going to go back to 2006 and beyond, so will I. Personally, I think it is irrelevant, and I have told you in the past that it is irrelevant, but you continue to dredge up old stuff from 3 or 4 or more years ago. I know that you search old threads when we debate issues. If you want to do it, so will I, but IMO, Zito, WMP, and Duncan have no bearing on today's issues.

So, why did you accuse me of mind reading? I would rather have Bay. I think he is the better offensive player. Apparently so do the Sox who offered him almost twice as much money each year for twice as many years. Why would they offer so much more if Cameron is just as good?

You constantly violate the rules. Insults beget insults and they inevitably degenerate the quality of discussion. Now, I have not insulted you in this post, but I am sure you will respond with something insulting.

I guess saying that you are barely socialized is not insulting. Maybe the Mods should rule on that, because I certainly meant it as an insult.

Keep moving

It's the only kind of knowledge that you exhibit.

Oh, yes. You should be the arbiter of what is insulting and inappropriate. You are barely socialized.

Of course J_E's earlier post was not personally insulting? Do think a personal insult must include name-calling? Are you that immature?

Very substantive and original.

You can't even get this right. When stating a personally insulting post like this, you should always be careful that none of it can be factually disproved. I don't take unsolicited shots at posters for any reason. When I do take shots, they are in response to unsolicited insults directed at me. I never insult anyone for their opinion about sports.:thumbdown

Do you ever post substantive thoughts or material about the Red Sox, baseball or sports in general?

Maybe we should call you Jacoby_Effsbury, because I am unaware of any grading system that goes below F to L.

You've never made a valid point. You are incapable.

Some of us knew that he sucked and that he couldn't field a position. Thankfully, the Red Sox FO didn't have a high opinion of him. Do you seriously want to defend that post. I was getting criticized for saying some favorable things about Zito before he went 0 for 100 with the Giants. It's the same thing. If he wants to hold me accountable for Zito's crashing and burning (even though he thought Zito would make the Mets perenial contenders) then I'll hold him accountable for these two pigs who were always pigs. You missed the larger point (as usual) which is that posts from 2006 are not relevant to our current discussion, but if E1 want s to continue to play that game, then I will too. WMP and Duncan in the middle of our lineup!!:lol: Thank goodness that never happened.

That was all concessions, and the Sox don't come close to getting that.

For the Sox I was right. For the Yankees I was right is you added in hot dog sales.