a700hitter

Whether he was an option or not, we had a pretty heated discussion regarding the value of getting him. Some posters were very negative about getting Guzman. I think this acquisition makes a deal for Guzman look good. It doesn't matter that it was not an option.

Hey, don't shoot the messenger. I didn't write the article, but our post season was pathetic.

This makes the Guzman trade look better. At least, he has some offensive skills.

You are right. He is a top pitcher, who can be dominant. Injury and lack of consistency have kept him from being a big star.

If you plug a pitcher like Sabbathia into a rotation on a good team, they become a very good if not an elite team. I remember what Pedro did for us. We had garbage on the staff, but getting him made the Sox a playoff contender. Manny elevated the team to an even higher level. It doesn't matter if your team works together or not. If you plug in a couple of guys like that, your team moves to a different level.

Again, who said anything about a catastrophe. The Red Sox will pay beyond 2009 for letting the Yankees eat their lunch this off season, because CC, AJ and Tex will not be with the Yankees only for 2009 but for several years beyond that. The Red Sox will be facing those same guys in 2010, 2011 and beyond. As for taking the "risk averse (safe) option", let's call it what it is: the cheap option. There was nothing risk averse about it. There was no value involved in their acquisitions. They paid cheap for a bunch of lame horses and they got even less than what they paid for. They got poor value in return for their investment. The off season can't be blamed for our troubles? There was a deep pool of solid performing FA pitchers and we passed on all of it. Pitching wins. They failed to upgrade, and now they are rolling garbage to the mound. Injuries are not an excuse, because the Yankees lost Wang for the season, but they had sufficiently bolstered their rotation with AJ and CC so that it didn't hurt them much.

I am not predicting catastrophe, but the fact is that the Yankees have locked up CC, AJ and Tex for several years. That will hurt us beyond this season. In addition they have ARod locked up. These are 4 mega stars. The only mega star that the Sox have is Beckett, and he is not signed long term. They can't afford to have the same approach this season or the chasm between the Sox and Yanks will open wider.

Here's an article comparing the past off season for the Yankees and the Red Sox. The Sox off season was an ill-conceived joke that will hurt the organization for years to come. http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/9926004/Red-Sox-have-to-admit-Yankees-got-it-right

...and of course the Yankees are in town.

He needs to hit if this team is going to have a chance. It's a bad sign that he is not hitting at Fenway right now.

Was Drew merely getting a rest today or was he hurting?

I believe Papi's steroid denial. I don't believe his birth certificate. There's no way that he is only 34. He's probably more like 38.

If Green's and Woodward's spotts come up in the 9th, we can only PH for 1, because we don't have enough MIFs. Tito really missed an opportunity not PHing for Reddick.

Nice outing from Buchholz. If he can do this consistently, we'll be in good shape.

Putting Reddick at the top of the order in the #2 hole has rally killing potential. Why not put Kotchman in the 2 hole. It's also sickening to see Green and Woodward in the same lineup. Woodward is an automativc out. Green is close. This lineup tosses this game to the Tigers.

No one is telling Smoltz what to do. I want him as far as possible from the organization. I was offering a commentary on the hypocrisy of players like Smoltz. He was insulted by the Braves offer of $1 million which he considered insulting and disrespectful due to everything he had done for the organization, including cashing their inflated checks while he was on the DL. Boston showed him the appropriate respect on his terms. He sucked and didn't deserve to be in the rotation. They cut him, asked him to go to the minors and think about working out of the bullpen. He told them to stuff it after he had been a huge negative for this team. The point is that with these hypocritical divas the respect and honor travels only in one direction. I don't think anyone wants him to stay. He sucks, but he is a big diva with a huge ego.

An IF hit for Lowell. lol!!!

He k'd him swinging just like the old days.

He wanted more than a $1 million deal. I'm sure he could've been convinced to take Smoltz's $5.5 million guarantee. No one offered anything close to that to Pedro. His guarantee with the Phillies is around $700k.

He's the greatest pitcher that any of us has ever seen, and I saw Gibson, Seaver, Marichal, Clemens and on and on.