a700hitter

Okay moderators, I promised no personal insult, and this in not personal, but this quote is completely idiotic. We still love what Damon did for RSN, but we root for the uniform not the individual. We hate anything in pinstripes. He should be expecting it, and being the mercenary that he is, it won't even bother him. What will bother him will be that he will blend into the crowd in NY, and his egotistical little wife will be able to walk down Broadway without being noticed.

My sentiments exactly. The whole operation became dysfunctional after Theo left. We were lulled into a false sense of security when they pulled off the Beckett move. At that point, the team needed a few tweaks to get it back to championship caliber, but then the wheels fell off. They moved Renteria for a prospect, and I thought to free up some payroll to sign Damon. They were caught napping in the Damon fiasco. Now, they have holes at SS and CF, and in filling these hole, they will probably spend more $ by taking bad contracts and trading prospects than it would have cost them to show Damon the love and sign him. They had a good plan to start, which was to rebuild the rotation and the bullpen. They did a good job with that, but losing Damon was not part of their plan, no matter what some of the experts on this board think. They failed to execute their plan. Someone needs to be held accountable. John Henry has to figure out where the breakdown in process ocurred and fix it before it rears its head again. I'll tell you one thing, if Theo was the GM, they don't get blind-sided. They might not have signed Damon, but Theo would have been plugged into that process 24/7. Nothing would have happened without him knowing about it. Lucchino should swallow some pride and get Theo back.

I like that idea. I hope it catches on. And you can't hurt anyone by throwing a beard.

We root for the uniform, and we root against anything wearing pinstripes. There is no spite involved. Damon saw the passion up close for 4 years. He went to the other side. He should know that he is now the enemy. He needs the cold slap of a hooting crowd to snap him into that reality. There ain't no more love in Fenway for him. Bob Gibson used to room with Bill White and they were the best of friends. Gibby told White that if they ever faced each other that White would not be his friend on the field. After White was traded to the Phillies, Gibby drilled him in the back in his first AB. No spite, just not friends on the field. The Fenway Faithful will figuratively drill Johnny when he steps to the plate on May 1st.

Doesn't matter. They lost him, Rocket and Wells in one off-season. That was a really bad off-season, and all 3 are still good pitchers. Yikes, Red Sawx fans would have been throwing themselves into the Charles.

Even though he is 25, he doesn't have a lot of innings under his belt. They need to build him up a little before he can started tossing 180-200 innings in a year. If they let him go, I have no doubt he'd put up 180-200 innings, but history has shown when a team steps up a pitchers innings that fast they can really damage him. I'd like to see him step into the rotation around June and let him get about 140-150 innings maximum this year. He's got to much potential to run him into the ground in one year.

I think they should let Papelbon work out of the pen at the start of the season. This should take some pressure off of him. He might press too much if he is thrown right into the rotation. I've read or heard that Wallace wants him to work in the pen first. You don't want a kid to burn himself out operating on an adrenaline rush.

There were plenty of stories in NY that the Yankees were happy to let him walk. They were probably pissed though when he was able to un-retire Rocket and bring him to Houston.

Okay, let's assume they lied, don't you agree that the lie backfired on them. There are articles in every major newspaper and tv stories making them look like keystone cops. They can't like the way it turned out. Risking pitch-forks and torches by telling the truth might have been the better strategy.

I'd be more than happy to let this go, but it takes two to tango. I am not going to make up theories that the Damon bungle was part of the FO's strategy. If I am trying your patience, it might be because I have exposed as weak the arguments defending the FO. Was the "Theo matter" part of the FO's strategy? What if this kid Marte is damaged goods, but we didn't give him a physical or check out his medical records? Are going to apologize for that too? I am getting concerned that the FO has had a series of missteps here. Maybe you are right, and they have everything under control, but you won't even acknowledge the possibility that they are somewhat dysfunctional right now without Theo and they have looked sloppy to say the least.

2 games to none at the stadium would have been a stranglehold. I was at the Stadium that night, and when I saw the posted lineup, I was livid. No way, no how Forest Gump should have had Kapler batting leadoff. In that lineup, he clearly should have been the #9 batter.

You are engaging in heavy rationalization and speculation but your theory is not supported by the facts. There is no reason why they would be honest about the Pedro situation, but engage in a conspiracy of deception to make themselves look foolish to save Damons's feelings. Apparently, they failed and Damon felt betrayed anyway. Once Damon started talking smack, why not be honest and fess up that they were holding the line? Did they maintain the conspiracy of deception because they liked looking like bungling buffoons? Your theory is really, really weak. This last post about hurting Damon's feelings is stretching the bounds of believabilty.

Also, let's not forget that Damon missed games 1 and 2 of the ALCS. In his place Kapler batted leadoff, that's right leadoff, in game 2. We had Pettite on the ropes early but Kapler ran into a strike em ot throw em out DP in the first inning. He got thrown out by 10 feet. In the second inning, he hit into a 6-4-3 rally killing DP. Damon just might have made the difference to bring a WS Championship in 2003.

I don't understand the need for such elaborate deception. When they lost Pedro to the Mets, they were honest about holding the line. Pedro was pretty popular and a guaranteed HOF er. Was there such abacklash by RSN when Pedro left. Were they fearing riots in the street if they said that Damon was not in their plans? I don't think that this ruse theory is realistic. You mean that they preferred to look foolish to the entire sports world and the press? Sorry, I am not buying. The argument makes no sense.

Next year a year of transition? Why? With Damon and the rebuilt pitching and a couple of tweaks, they had a good chance at going all the way. You don't get that many chances where you can put out a team of such a high caliber and you have to hope that you are lucky enough not to suffer key injuries, etc. You can't toss away these chances to build for the future. This team was built to win, and now I am hearing that 2006 will be a transition. I am sorry, but don't you think that is a bit foolish?

Yes, send me a pm when they make an impact at the ML level. I am still waiting for Murphy, and my hair has been turning grey. What % of draft picks do you think make it to the majors? and what fraction of those guys makes an impact? and how many of them become All-Stars? Play the pick 10 lottery. Your odds would be better. Don't be talking to me about draft choices until you can show me these odds. It's a real long shot that one of the two of them will be another Damon.

Please send me a pm when any of these draft picks makes an impact at the ML level.

I'll give the Sox FO props for their accomplishments. They've built a solid minor league system, etc. I'll give them props for sending Renteria away. That was a move that was carefully considered. But I will not give them excuses when they so clearly got blind-sided. This might work out for them in the end, but I'll bet they were not patting each other on the back when they heard the news. In fact, I'll bet that there was a big meeting and a fairly significant s*** storm. The Yankees got themselves a good ballplayer, whether they overpaid or not, and our guys were left with egg on their faces. The were not feeling prideful that they had maintained their integrity. Trust me that they felt that they had been made fools.

I agree. We didn't need Glaus. Let the Blue Jays have him. Now they have 4 1B/3B types. I have to assume they will move 1 of them... perhaps Hillenbrand.

That forces us to conclude that the surprise by Lucchino and John Henry upon hearing the news was feigned, and that they were dishonest at the next day's press conference, because they did not give an impression that they would have refused to move off the 4/40 offer. I think the events of those two days, including the damage control press conference, indicates that they just dropped the ball.

I don't think this outcome had anything to do with the Red Sox FO sticking to their strategy. I will not be an apologist for the FO. They bungled the negotiations and got outmaneuvered by the Yankees FO. Sox management never even got their final offer on the table. They misread the situation, and they handled the whole thing in an incompetent manner. Now. they have their work cut out for them. If they don't recover from this and the team finshes 3rd or misses the playoffs, heads in the FO should roll.

Please go on. Those links are from some crappy NJ paper with a circulation of about 10. Send me some links from the NY Post, NY Daily News or LI Newsday. Those are the guys that ARod takes to dinner and buys drinks, not the guys from some crappy Jersey paper. Remarks by Red Sox players made in Boston papers hardly qualifies as bad press. Sox players hate him, because he is a big press suck up. Read a "Tale of Two Cities" - the one by Masserotti and Harper. There's a good discussion about ARod's Press savvy behavior and the resentment it causes among the other players.

ARod is a shameless self promoter. Remember, his "A Magical Night in Pinstripes" stunt when he was selling inscribed balls commemorating his 3 HR game against the Angels. He had no one less than Michael Kay promoting that sales job. He courts the print and TV press and is resented by the other players for doing so. He really hasn't gotten bad press. If anything, it was due in large part to his good press relations that the press whored themselves out and robbed Papi of his MVP because of defense.

Sounds like a good plan. Who plays SS until he is ready? How is Izturis offensively?

You are right. He can't miss the cutoff man, but he will regularly two-hop it to the cutoff man.