a700hitter

You get under my skin at times, and deliberately so, but I always return the favor. Nevertheless, I am always interested in your point, even when we are in disagreement.

What will the OF alignment be? Drew is still unavailable and Baldelli needs a day in his hyperbaric chamber to recover from 1 1/2 games in two days.

...and terrorist attacks ensued.

Wrong again my know-it-all friend. Yes I would have liked the Sox to address SS, but not because I doubt Lowrie's ability. I would have liked to get O'Cab or someone like that because Nick "Joe Hardy" Green's deal with the devils has expired and he is back to suck land. He did a great job up until now, but I am not comfortable with him as the only middle IF to back up the other guys. My concern about Lowrie is his health. He did have surgery on his wrist you know. What is the contingency plan if Lowrie can't get back to full form until next season? That's why I wanted a SS, but of course you have your own preconceived notion of what I think. You always know what I mean more than I know myself. Maybe You should explore a career as a psychic. I did tell you to f*** off, but only after you threw around the word pathological. I guess you don't you see that as an abrasive word. Thank goodness you did not have any diplomacy responsibilities in the military.

I think he is saving the wear and tear on his arm by staying away from the split. He's doing pretty well getting by on just a fastball. Last year he did much the same thing. There was that one game when he blew a save and he threw nothing but fastballs and people started asking where's the splitter? Varitek defended him and said that he's a fastball pitcher so I call for the fastball. At the end of the year and the playoffs, he worked in the splitter and an ocassional slider. I think he'll do the same as he starts to lose a little on the fastball as the season wears on. I don't get theis Bard for closer talk yet. I'm not excited to get rid of Papelbon. I am excited that if Bard continue this progression that he and Papelbon will shorten games to 6 or 7 innings. That is a formula for success. Bard just recently learned to throw consistent strikes. By this point in his development, Papelbon was already a big time closer. Some guys develop slower than others and he may become a dominant closer or late inning guy. He isn't there yet. Papelbon has been ther for some time. Comparing the two guys, I would say that it is clear that Bard has a good curve. Papelbon has never developed consistent offspeed stuff, but neither has Mo. Bard throws harder, but IMO Papelbon's ball has more movement. That's the key. That's why Papelbon is elite.

Markakis in a walk over.

It looks that way.

I don't like any of these options. I think they need Dice K to come back strong and take the 3rd slot in the rotation in September. I'd slot Wake 4th and Penny 5th. Until Dice K comes back, I'd give Smoltz one or two more starts to keep his spot. If he continues to suck, Buchholz gets the spot.

They probably don't want to release him from the organization, because we don't know how well Varitek or VMart will catch the knuckleball. IMO it's a smart move keeping him around. If Tek has no problem with Wakefield, they can DFA Kottaras.

I've been waiting for Coke to wear down. He's got to be getting fatigued. Girardi goes to him every day.

Beckett has been getting more DP balls this season than I remember in the past. It's been helping him keep his pitch counts down and letting him get deeper into games.

Calm down. He's got talent, but major league pitchers can expose a kid like him after a couple of weeks. He'll get a taste of the majors and hopefully boost his confidence, but we are in a tough penant race. It would be very unfair to expect much from him.

You are a knowledgeable and respectful poster. When you poke fun, there is clearly no malice or nastiness. That is clear from your body of posts. I got a good chuckle when I signed on tonight and saw the posts about the nerdy thing. Every once in a while I come up with a catchy phrase when I am ranting. I guess"4 eyed nerdy OFer" is one of those phrases. Again, I like his tools, but when I look at him, he looks like a nerdy high school kid. It is not a knock on his playing ability. I think Kurt Suzuki looks like Gilbert Gottfried. It just pops into my head when I see him. That doesn't mean that I think he plays like Gilbert Gottfried. In 2006, I was one of the first posters here to declare the team dead. In declaring them dead, I posted that the only way our guys were going to see post season play was if they bought tickets. That ended up in the signature of Optimist for the remainder of the year.

Chris Duncan is not an OFer. Now that Bay may be injured too, we unfortunately may get the chance to see him ply his trade in the OF.

Uh, no he hasn't. He can't due to an incurable physical illness.

I just got in, but I have been following the game on my phone. How many LOBs have we had. It seems like a lot. I see you guys have been having fun with the 4 eyed nerdy OFer. For the record, I like the kid. In addition to following his stats and scouting reports, I have seen him play quite a few times. I know that means nothing in cyberland, but he has a lively bat, good speed and a plus arm. The kid's got tools which he should be refining on his climb through the Sox minor league system. I still believe that the team fumbled when they didn't address the OF situation and decided to carry 3 first basemen instead.

I don't like Kotsay. I go crazy when I see him coming to bat in a big spot. I'm not going to let this become a a Reddick vs. Kotsay debate, because that is not my point. We had Kotsay who is an OFer. Now, we have a third first baseman that we don't need. Do we really want AA Reddick being rushed to the majors. It's not a good argument that he couldn't suck worse than Kotsay. If Reddick isn't ready, why start the major league clock running on him? As for this: If you are going to use inflammatory insulting characterizations, please try to be accurate. I tend to favor veterans, as do most GM's, because they are better performers, but you claim that I never want to give a prospect a chance. Really? I have been enthusiastic about lots of prospects throughout the years-- Papelbon, Ellsbury, Bard, Lowrie among others. I have repeated this discussion with you several times. Yet, you continue dismissively paint my opinions with this broad brush in your usual obnoxious way. f*** off with your insults. It adds nothing to the discourse.

He has done an excellent job for them. Girardi seemed to go to him for multiple innings for an extended period, and he kept them in a lot of games that the Yanks came back to win. I would not be surprised that he is burned out. I have been expecting it. Coke has to get fatigued soon even though he usually pitches only partial innings. Girardi has him warming every game and hi pitches in almost every game.

Yeah, why sit Ortiz who has homered in back to back games and he is scalding the ball right now.

Are you gonna Tonya Harding him? I'll bet you a case of El Presidente that Drew hits the DL before Lowell.

How he could think that a team with decent offense and defense could falter with Beckett, Lester and Halladay heading your rotation baffles me. If he thinks we would falter with Halladay, I guess we have no hope without him?

It's not impossible and they should have gotten one, because they are going to need one this week with Drew having a groin issue. That was a need that should have been addressed. A number of you posters have taken this discussion in a circle. I said that we need another OF because we barely have 3 warm bodies to put out there every night. I said that we need another OF more than we need a third first baseman. Frankly ORS, if my desire for a 5th OF is pathological when there are three OF positions then defending the acquisition of a third first baseman is idiocy. Several posters replied that none were available that would have upgraded our situation. Now, we have come full circle and the replies are stating that it's easy to pick up a 4th or 5th OFer. Which is it? None are available or we can pick one up any time? I'm getting confused. We need another OF ... now. Drew is down with a groin and those can linger. We don't need a third first baseman. I like the argument that Kotchman would be a good PH. Isn't inter-league over? How often does Tito pinch hit? Kotchman is going to rot on the bench, and if Tito works him into some sort of rotation with Youkilis, Lowell, VMArt and Tek, he had better produce because 5 guys sharing 3 positions could get ugly.

I didn't say that he was a bad player. Everything in your post I already knew. Question: How does he get ABs on this team? I have heard that he is going to be a late inning defensive replacement. Do we really need to waste a roster spot for a late inning defensive replacement for Mike Lowell which would involve moving Youk across the diamond after playing the entire game at 1B. I don't see how he gets ABs on this team, so why did they get him?