a700hitter

We can only hope that Youkilis will hit like Millar did in 2003 and 2004.

Even if they lock him up for 6 years, it will take those 16 year old Dominican kids longer than that to get to Fenway.

They got an unexpected clutch performance from Perez to keep them in the game until the Mets' offense blew the game open.

I guess that you are looking into your crystal ball. I was just being facetious, but if he left us in FA, it wouldn't be the first time that it happened...right?

My bet would be that by the time they get here papelbon will have signed with the Yankees as a FA and Pedroia will be a backup infielder for the A's.

I would not be so sure.

Is DeLucci a FA this year?

One advantage is that he is three years younger than Manny, and Manny is starting to get some aches and pains.

I've posted their stats before the season ended. Youk's advantage over Millar is that he is cheap. I found it interesting how everyone had praised Youk all season long when his stats were only marginally better than Millar who gets a beating on Red Sox fan boards. I think that there weren't much expectations for Youk in his first full ML season. He started hot and proved that he was capable of holding down a major league job. We had higher expectations for Millar, especially after his first two years in Boston. Now, Millar is probably willing to come back to the Sox for a cheap price. Youklis is still cheap, but he lacks the qualities that Millar brings to the clubhouse. Also, Youk's ridiculous remarks about the fans with regard to Tavarez were unnecessarily negative. Millar is almost 100% positive in his attitude. I'd sign Millar and consider trading Youk.

While he is by no means a good outfielder, he is a better outfielder than Youklis.

I would make one change. I'd put Cabrera in the 2 hole with Pedroia batting 9th.

I wouldn't mind having Derek Lowe...period.

I think he would come back at just about any price.

We might be on these boards, but no one on the current Red Sox will still be with the Red Sox.

I also wouldn't remind. I still think his attitude was instrumental in not letting the Sox just fold up their tent after game 3 or the 2004 ALCS. I love that clip of him talking to the fans and saying that this is just the way they like it. He just kept running around and telling everyone, "Don't let us win today, because we got Pedro in game 5 and Schilling in game 6." This year's team folded its tent when the going got tough.

I was at a retirement party and the room was too noisy to hear the announcers during that game. If it was such a seriously offensive comment, I am just wondering why there was not more of an immediate controversy about it. While his comment may have been insensitive, it seems that he was joking with Piniella. Are these type of insensitive remarks serious enough to warrant a firing as opposed to an apology? These two guys are from the locker rooms of the 60's, 70's and 80's. I'm sure that both have heard far worse from their friends. I remember reading a Sport magazine article in 1975 about the Red Sox. The article was focused on some pre-game playfulness between Yaz and Tiant. During batting practice they were standing around SS on the OF grass. They were throwing balls at each others feet. Tiant was calling Yaz a pollack, and Yaz was telling Tiant to "dance you grease-ball" or words to that effect as he threw the ball at Tiant's feet. These guys liked and greatly respected each other. The reason I remember this was because I was at that game, and I remember them throwing balls at each other's feet and laughing, and I remember thinking they were crazy to risk injury. When the article came out, it stuck with me because I had witnessed the event. My point is that in locker rooms of the 60's, 70's and 80's there was not such a sensitivity to a players every remark, because they knew that there was a respect for one another. I don't think Psycho's intent was to offend, but to listeners it was offensive, and it did warrant an apology, but a firing....?

Any pitcher that would throw strikes to the #3 and 4 guys should have his head examined.

Wow! PC World strikes again. Ridiculous. My theory is that he got fired because he was taking shots at the Yankees like crazy during last Saturday's game. I'm not Hispanic, but several of my friends and co-workers are Hispanic and none of them mentioned anything about being offended by anything Lyons said. Had anyone else heard about this controversy, or have I just been too busy to notice?

Third Place was clearly a disgrace, and hopefully it will motivate the FO to put together a team without cutting corners. However, the Yankees coughed up a hair ball. You and every Yankee fan were thrilled to be playing a reeling Detroit rather than Minnesota. Every Red Sox fan was disappointed. No one gave Detroit a chance. Are they better than we expected? MAybe so, but the Yankees still should have taken them out. They buried them in game one. They were leading in game two, and everyone was making plans for the ALCS tickets, but they let it slip away. In game 3, the Yankees expected to beat Rogers just by throwing their gloves on the field and they forgot about grinding out at bat and driving up a pitcher's pitch count. They let themselves get taken out of their game. By time game 4 came, they had lost their confidence, the Tigers were strutting with confidence and Torre clearly panicked in filling out the lineup card. Make no mistake though the Yankees gagged and choked once again. After getting by the Yankees, an inferior A's team was no match. The A's are not a good team. They are made up of re-treads and back up players. They were n't going anywhere. They were lucky to get by the Twins. Zito cranked up the game of his life to make Santana a non-factor, and then it was AA and AAA pitches and a badly damaged Brad Radke. Once they got by Santana, it was a cake-walk.

Welcome to the TalkSox.

I think hitting coaches are overrated. I'm not saying that he wasn't a good coach. I just think hitting coaches are not indispensable.

The market is waht it is. We need pitching. If we don't pay market prices for it, we won't be good. Pedro made $17 million in his last year and Schilling made $13-14 million in '04. Good pitching costs.