I thought he was a bad signing, but not as bad as Seanez who I considered to be a waste. Tavarez was in the running for the DFA contest for a while with Seanez especially after that game where he blew up and almost threw away a game only to be saved by a play at the plate for the final out. He has earned some kudos taking the ball as a starter when everyone elese was crapping out in that role.
Here's a good article by Nick cafardo in today's Globe about the task ahead for the Red Sox this offseason. I particularly like his first and last paragraphs.
http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2006/09/10/red_sox_have_quite_a_fix/
If Papelbon hadn't been a lights out closer for most of the year, can you imagine what this pen would have been like? No one could've predicted that Paps would have been so dominant out of the box. I don't think the FO was counting on it. My point is that the FO did a really crappy job of building a pen. They got lucky with the kid, but the pen was completely deficient of reliable veterans. What were they thinking?
MDC's ERA has bloated to 5.06. When Foulke's ERA got over 5 last year people were looking to run him out of town. He was injured and over the hill. MDC and Hansen have ERA's over 5 and we are supposed to think they will be part of a bright Red Sox future. Does anyone else think that we have been conned?
This is really a battle of the Titans. Krapler will provide good protection for Manny and Ortiz. What a pile of s*** this team has become. They have to summon the gods for help to beat the Royals. Uughhh!