a700hitter

:lol:We have to do something to cope with this horrendous circumstance, especially since we have a big hill to climb. I'm not confident that we will be able to land the pieces we need to compete. They are certainly not available on the FA market.

I recognize that, but losing a guy as important as Teixeira to the Yankees for less money as Example has posted, leaves me shaking my head. That shouldn't happen. When you have the opportunity to close the deal before the Yanks enter the picture, you shouldn't walk away without making your final offer, because you will probably not get another chance.

Over his career he has sucked against the Yankees. He is also a forfeit in post season starts. It's time to move him to the TV Booth.

I always mean what I say, unless I am clearly being sarcastic or joking. You are assuming that my criticism of the FO handling of the Teixeira or the Abreu negotiations is a condemnation of the FO. It is not. People like to see things in black and white. You like to view me as anti-FO. That is far from the truth. While I will criticize them, I have said over and over again that IMO this FO is doing a very good job overall. They do a lot of things very well. However, I don't think they do very well in some negotiations. Maybe they need to bring someone in to join the FO team with a different skill set-- a negotiator. This FO knows its business and they make very sound decisions, but IMO they have had their lunch eaten by the Yankees a couple of times. That's my opinion. That being said, I am serious that I don't think the FO will make decisions based on public opinion. I think Boras is smart enough to know that. I also think that angering the Red Sox brass by lying is not the best way to deal with them, regardless of whether the Sox need a left fielder. I just don't see how stating a known lie would be in Boras' interest. That's why I believe his statement.

He had a better year. It was not just that his errors were down, and you are correct that the decrease in errors was attributable to Teixeira. Jeter also was getting to more balls up the middle.

So, if the Yankees outbid us, ... not the FO's fault, and if we outbid the Yankees but the player signs with the Yankees, ... not the FO's fault. So much for accountability.

The Red Sox should stop pursuing players that don't fit into their plans. Sounds like a big waste of everyones time.

If it is a lie or gross exaggeration, the Red Sox could plant a story refuting Boras statement by simply making a phone call. I have more regard for the Red Sox FO than to think they would throw out sound business judgment to bow to the court of public opinion.

Drew was still under contract, and my recollection is that the Sox (in the Abreu negotiation) also had not made their final offer when they walked away from the table. That's just a bad way to negotiate when your chief rival has the same need as you.

That offer was made by the Red Sox. So, it wasn't the money? Make up your mind. Was it the money or wasn't it? If it wasn't the money, I am leaning more towards it being a really bad sales job by the FO.

Wow, the FO must really be stupid if Boras has to keep reminding them of how he screwed them over. If they are that stupid, no amount of leverage would work.

Nonresponsive.

No one has yet stated how a lie known to the FO could help Boras with regard to negotiating with Boston.

How could deliberately tweaking your negotiating opponent about a past back-stabbing help him in future negotiations. Whether or not he is a necessary evil, that would just be bad business. Boras is not someone who regularly shoots himself in the foot.

Both Boras and the FO know what that offer was and whether or not it was made in good faith. If the offer was outlandish, why bring it up and rub John Henry's face in it at this time of year. How would that benefit him?

To argue otherwise is just sour grapes. I will not engage in it. I hate the Yankees down deep in my bones, but they got it done this season. They were clearly the better team, and there was nothing illegitimate about it.

I'm not asking you to agree with me. We have both stated our opinions and neither one of us knows what occurred during the negotiations, so neither of us can claim that our opinion is correct. Was any reliable FO personnel quoted? If not, neither of us knows what either side asked for or offered. If the Red Sox were willing to offer more than $20m AAV, then they should have made that offer before they left the room. If they were willing to offer more but didn't, it makes me more inclined to think that they botched things. When you have exclusive access, you don't give that up and walk away when you have not made your final offer. You can't depend on scum like Boras to get back to you if the guy gets another offer. He got another offer, and the Sox were never asked to counter. The Yankees closed. I don't care about it, because it's not my business, but I understand it and can debate it. I have not argued in this thread that they should have blown away the market to get Tex, so I don't know why you arguing about value. Neither of us knows what was offered or proposed, so how can you analyze value here? You are way off topic with the value argument. I never said that. They wanted and needed Abreu at the time, otherwise why were they pursuing him. They left the table and the Yankees landed a pretty good player and the Sox had trash in RF for the remainder of the 2006 season. They made up for that mistake with $70 million and Drew. That doesn't mean that they didn't blow the Abreu negotiation. Subsequent successes don't erase past failures. Hopefully, their successes are in part due to learning from past mistakes.

People have a knee-jerk reaction to Boras- that he is a scum-sucking liar who cannot be trusted. If I were sitting on the opposite end the table negotiating with him, I wouldn't trust a word out of his mouth. But here's the thing with his latest statement, the Red Sox FO knows if it is a lie or not, because they were there. Now, although Boras is scum, he's not an idiot. The Red Sox are one of the top organizations in sports and we have signed many of his clients. Don't you think he wants the Red Sox to keep bidding on and signing his clients? What would he have to gain by telling such a lie? Nothing. He'd just be pissing off a big fish. Would that make any sense at all?

We are in the realm of opinion. There is no conclusive evidence for either position. My opinion is no more valid than the opposing view, but some posters seek to invalidate the opinions of other without any proof for their own opinion. All along, I have stated that this is my opinion and nothing more.