a700hitter

No one is addressing the issue of this Luxury Tax barrier that the Sox refuse to cross. It's not a major $ item, so I don't get it. Signing Holliday in conjunction with lackey would put the Sox in the elite class of the Yankees for 2010 and beyond, and they would still have the minor league crop coming to the majors in 2012-13. The reason why I use the Yankees when I discuss competitiveness is because they are the team to beat. They have earned that status. If Toronto had won the Championship last year, I would be talking about being competetive with Toronto. I don't know what Example means when he says that the goal is "to win as many of the 162 games as possible." Wouldn't Holliday help the team win more games? If the best team in the AL was projected to win 90-92 games, should the Red Sox build a team to win 105 games or 95. It seems that building a team to win 105 would be overkill from a cost perspective, but wouldn't that be in line with your stated goal of winning as many of the 162 games as possible. I disagree with that goal. I think a team should be built to compete with and beat the other quality teams in the Division and the league.

When last season ended, it was obvious that the Sox had some work to do to close the gap on the Yankees. We needed another starter, and at the very least we needed to keep our offense intact, but we were hoping to upgrade. Of course something needed to be done at SS. We got Scutaro, and that didn't make anyone turn back flips. We got Lackey and we did back flips an waited for the next shoe to drop. Now, Bay has gone. Holliday is almost gone, and it is becoming clear that the FO is seriously thinking of starting the season with Kotchman at first base and Cameron in LF. The combination represents a downgrade from the offense we finished with in 2009. We were all hot for San Diego's Gonzalez, but now it looks like that will not happen. The FO doesn't want to gut the farm system to get one guy. I understand the concern about the future. However, Holliday would not cost the future, just money, and he is damn good. We hear that the FO will not do a deal with Halladay because they will go over the Luxury cap. What is the penalty for that 40% or 100%? I'm not sure. In any event if they blow $10 million past the luxury cap of $170 million, it would cost an additional $4 million or $10 million. Would that bring financial ruin to the Sox? They threw away $10.5 million on bags of garbage like Penny and Smoltz last year. $10 million spread over a 6 year contract is not a lot. Next season, a lot of $ comes off the payroll and the cap shouldn't be a problem. Right now this team is very expensive and it is not competitive with the Yankees and the FO knows it. Everything would have to go right for the Sox and the Yanks would need a very bumpy road. What is the big deal about luxury tax for 1 year? The Red Sox completely disregard the informal cost guidelines for signing draft picks and they have prospered as a result. Why are they so firm about this luxury threshold?

Those who believe the propaganda never realize it was propaganda. Major league teams use the press all the time as a PR tool. Last year, the despicable Met FO was floating stories in the press at Thanksgiving that all but one of the luxury boxes were sold. The message was that tickets were going like hot cakes. Don't miss out. Well, that was total bull s***. They had several luxury boxes that went unsold throughout the season, and i know that for a fact. Of course the Red Sox FO is too principled to ever use the press to help their business.

They also thought signing Luis Castillo for 4 years and big bucks was stupidity without the benefit of hindsight.

I have many friends who are Mets fans. I go to a lot of their games. They were criticizing that deal before the team broke spring training last year. Perez is a well known head case. Met fans thought the deal was very stupid considering the pitchers who were available last off season.

How could the Mets ever give Ollie Perez 3yrs/$36 million.

They offered Bay a contract during the season and they offered him a contract during the off season. They went back to him at least once that has been documented to get him to make a decision before moving forward. That is why I conclude that Cameron was Plan B. If Bay was Plan B, they wouldn't have offered him 4 yrs/$60 million. Do you really want to argue the point that Cameron might not have been Plan B? He could have been Plan C or D, but give the FO some credit. He was not Plan A. Slow off season? There was no one more interesting to write about. No one on the roster had anything interesting happen this winter. Lots of the Sox hosted charity and community events. That would be newsworthy. This article which mentions his so-called "break out" 2007 season and how his progress was curtailed by a hit to the head was a pure puff piece. It was a "you'll be surprised how good he is" piece. There's a story in the article about him scaling a wall in the minors to catch a foul pop, and the article concludes with “I’m glad he’s on our team,” Claus said. “I can tell you that.” Yeah, I'd say it is a puff piece. Did the FO have a role in this article? I think they might have. The author Tomase doesn't have the track record of the other Boston beat writers. If he plays nice with the FO, maybe he gets a scoop or two. Maybe he gets some good access for interviews. Organizations like the Red Sox use the press. It's part of their job.

You are arguing on the periphery. I'd be happy if they got Beltre, even though I don't think very highly of him. That shows how little I regard Kotchman. Howver, the Red Sox off season is over with regard to major acquisitions. Unless Beltre has no market and the Sox can get him for a song, he will not be signed by the Sox. The Sox offense will experience a marked fall off from 2009.

Then they'll have to be prepared to DFA him and get nothing in return. Beltre would be a defensive upgrade, but I am not convinced that he would be even a marginal offensive upgrade.

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.